Friday, August 1, 2008

PA Nurses Pushing to Ban Forced Overtime

Last spring, urged on by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the state’s House of Representatives voted 166-31 to ban mandatory overtime for nurses. Now the nurses are aggressively lobbying the state Senate to move the bill out of committee. Members have been campaigning for the ban for the past six years, mobilizing for lobby days in Harrisburg and generating thousands of emails. A strong media campaign is supplementing the lobbying with radio ads, billboards, and excellent media coverage of events, including candidate forums.

"Every day, we are contacted by nurses who are concerned that they are unable to deliver the highest quality care that their patients deserve, because of the toll and stress placed on nurses by working endless hours. Our number one legislative priority is to insure that this outrageous practice be eliminated and banned forever." - Kati Sipp, Executive Vice President,SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.

Sipp says that one thing that distinguishes the Pennysylvania bill from similar laws in other states is that "it covers not only RNs but also LPNs and CNAs so our longterm care workers, not just acute care, are very involved."Now our members, who have already written or visited or called their Senators many times, are reaching out to non-union nurses to get them involved in the campaign. We have no doubt that we’ll eventually be successful."